AREA DEVELOPMENT

Aviolanda Woensdrecht is an integral development area near the Woensdrecht Air Base, which creates opportunities for people, nature and businesses. Government, education and entrepreneurs work closely together on the economic, ecological and socio-cultural development of the area.

The history in a nutshell

Around 2005, national support grew to bolster initiatives in the field of maintenance in the south of the Netherlands. Quickly becoming a very prominent aviation location, Woensdrecht became a centre for aviation maintenance. Specific beneficial aspects of the Woensdrecht location were the presence of the runway at the Air Base, the Woensdrecht Logistics Centre, Fokker and the readily available course for aviations technicians.
In the spring of 2007, the province of North-Brabant, the Council ofWoensdrecht and Woensrecht Air Base, decided to work together on the clustering of economic activities in the aviation maintenance sector. Under the brand ‘Maintenance Valley’, the focus was put on MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) for both military and civil aviation.
With a significant contribution from the province of North-Brabant and the Dutch Institute for World Class Maintenance (DI-WCM), the design of this program has been further developed. In 2008, consensus was reached with all parties involved and the change of name from ‘Maintenance Valley’ to ‘Aviolanda Woensdrecht’ was introduced. In the meantime, companies such as the Dutch Aerospace Laboratory, DutchAero Services, Terma, European Knowledge Center for Composite Repair, BOEING, Elbit Systems of America and Aircraft End of Life Solutions, have established themselves at Woensdrecht.

A joint venture has since been set up to give airlines better access to the runway. Before this venture was established various parties made a financial injection; 60% was financed by the province of North-Brabant, 20% by the community of Woensdrecht and 20% by Stork / Fokker. Land, which was known as the former Stork/Fokker site, has been prepared for construction and is now called Business Park Aviolanda.

The Name

The name Aviolanda Woensdrecht originates from the Aviolanda Aviation Company; a Dutch aircraft and body builder who was based in Papendrecht and Woensdrecht from 1927 to 1967.

Logo and icons

The three pillars corresponding to Aviolanda Woensdrecht are consistent throughout the logo and the three icons:

  • The colour blue in the logo and the icon with the people represents socio-cultural developments: such as education.
  • The colour green and the icon with the tree represents ecological developments: the green projects.
  • The colour grey and the icon with the aircraft represents economical developments: the activity.

Dutch Institute World Class Maintenance

Aviolanda Woensdrecht is a program that is a result from the economic development program ‘Pieken in de Delta’ (translates to Peaks in the Delta) of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, of which MRO is part of (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul). Aviolanda Woensdrecht is a World Class Maintenance Value Park in the field of MRO, specifically trained in the civil and military runway related aviation sector.

Coorperation West-Brabant

In the West-Brabant region, 19 communities have united in economic cooperation. The Aviolanda Woensdrecht project is one of the most important topics, on the strategic agenda of West-Brabant.

Commonly supported approach

The three subjects business, nature and socio-cultural developments may well have conflicting interests. In addition, many parties are involved in the complex area development of Aviolanda Woensdrecht. Finding a solution which all involved parties agreed on was turning out to be difficult, resulting in the Mutual Gains Approach (MGA), which is an approach that has proven to be very successful. The MGA process focuses on negotiating based on each other’s interests, achieving consensus and creating a win-win feeling. We do not action our opinions, but speak of interests and opportunities. Everyone wins with MGA because they are looking for ‘mutual gains’ together.

This way of working does require extra effort, however it creates mutual understanding and respect. All parties involved see a rising strength: together we make a sustainable and strong area development. The agendas are developed to be balanced and joint interests are always looked at.

Partners